The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
A variety of systems and techniques exist for distributing media content to media playback devices including mobile phones, tablets, laptop or desktop computers, set-top boxes, gaming devices, and many other consumer electronic devices. For example, existing content distribution services often provide interfaces by which a user may browse a media content catalog over a network using various applications at their media playback devices. Users may use the interfaces to select specific items of media content from the catalog, which are then transferred over the network from the content distribution services to the media playback devices.
The popularity of such content distribution services continues to increase, particularly in developing countries. As the popularity of these services has increased, so too has the diversity in the type and capabilities of media devices accessing such services. Media distribution techniques and content formats used by such services often assume that media devices accessing the service are relatively current in performance specifications; however, in many parts of the world, such as in developing countries, access to current generation media devices may be limited and/or prohibitively expensive. These assumptions may result in the content distribution services distributing media content in formats or using techniques that are incompatible with older devices, thereby restricting the ability of many users to utilize the services. Consequently, many existing systems and techniques for distributing media content are deficient in environments where a wide diversity of media device types exists.